CIA director and ambassadorBorn: March 30, 1913Birthplace: St. Davids, Pa.

Helms was a former CIA director (1966–73) and ambassador to Iran (1973–77) who attempted to overthrow Chilean president Salvador Allende and to assassinate Fidel Castro. In 1977 he pleaded no contest to charges that he lied to a Senate committee about the operations in Cuba and Chile. Nixon dispatched him to Iran when he refused to intervene in an FBI investigation into Watergate.